Party at Aboye

After all our work was done we headed for the desert: a region we had not been able to visit since 2007.  On the way we stopped at Aboye, checked on the matrone, and had a party for the people there.  When we arrived and they saw who was with us: tuareg guitarists Hasso and Alhassane, they sent us a sheep as a gift and a bribe to insure there would be a concert that night.  After dinner the crowd began to arrive–quietly in the night as nomads always do.  They got a surprise when Hasso asked Ned to sing a song.  After exchanging numbers many times, the crowd was dancing, ululating and clapping and American cowboy music and rock has a new place in the tuareg culture.

Bennie dances with a very talented and animated young dancer from Aboye.

Most surprising about the visit was that the people at Aboye recognized Ned as a relative of Jim (his father and my brother) who had danced so vigorously with them in 2000.  I guess he made an impression!  Ned certainly did.